When it comes to newborns and children in general, safety is always the first thing on my mind.  I always make sure that my blankets are washed, my hands are clean and none of my props could possibly injure the baby such as glass bowls (don’t use them) or unweighted baskets that could tip (always weight your baskets down!) and I don’t hang babies either.  It’s just not worth it to me.  Simple is better in my mind and it keeps the focus on the subject of the photo who is in fact, the most important part!  But there is still controversy over certain poses that photographers like argue about.  What is safe, what isn’t safe, what could happen if… etc.  I wanted to share this picture not as a “photographers must do this” but as a “this is how I do it” so that my clients can know what to expect and that their child’s safety is of paramount importance.

This is a pose that I don’t try that often. It’s a pose that requires a very sleepy baby and extra time and I’d rather spend my time getting poses I know the baby will cooperate with. In this case, we had already gone through a lot of poses and baby was still sound asleep so I decided to go for it. I made a hole in the center of my posing beanbag for the babies bottom half to rest in. This girl was a little thing so a small hole is all I really needed. Sometimes for larger babies I’ll use a Boppie instead. The biggest thing to note is that both Mom’s hands are on the baby the entire time. One hand is placed under the blanket in the front supporting the babies elbows. The other hand was placed with fingers supporting the head at the nape of the neck. There were also rolled up towels placed under the babies bottom to make sure she didn’t slide down. The bottom could also be supported by getting another parent or person involved. Dad can slide his hand under the blanket easily enough to get a hand on baby for bottom support.  When posing the babies hands, I make sure to put the weight of the head on the heels of the hands.  I’ve seen this pose done with the hands bent inwards, putting the weight on the backs of the hands.  Although babies are very flexible by nature, that still has the potential to stretch little tendons and could be unsafe.  Finally, with hands still on the baby, I begin shooting. My version of this shot is taken at a slight angle instead of it’s straight on counterpart. That is because Mom’s hand will often be blocking part of the babies body and it is difficult to remove the hand in Photoshop if part of the body is blocked. Personally, I think it’s a small price to pay. The last thing to note is that the babies feet are not up by the head. Sometimes that can work but you have to have a super flexible, super young baby. At 9 days old, this little one just wasn’t going to do it and I was not going to force it. I tried, she fussed, we moved her feet back down.

So there you have it. My version of this shot. I’m not saying it’s the only right way, but it’s my way and it’s safe and that is was matters most to me.